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Washington’s Top Twenty: The Breweries That Deliver The Goods

…Three HUNDRED and twenty-nine of you have, in four years, sent mails asking for a list of Washington’s Must-See breweries. I know this well. I counted every one.

I didn’t, before sitting down with this post, even have some sort of pecking order. And it was, surprisingly, a real nail-biter. I’m afraid of missing somebody, leaving somebody out, offending everybody, and helping to encourage something I’ve railed against for 20+ years: the American obsession with turning every damned thing into a competition.

The list below is good for about three days or until I visit another brewery and get my socks knocked off, which happens fairly regularly. The latest episode of that was Saturday, the 27th of July, when we dropped into NW Peaks Brewing in Ballard and I tasted four of the best ales I’ve had in one place since…well, since our trip to 7 Seas in Gig Harbor on the 25th. NW Peaks makes this list, after three visits and not one single taster of anything that wasn’t among the five or six best of its type I’ve tasted anywhere.

And, even posting this, I know that those 329 souls who asked will not be happy. The first thing you’ll notice is the four-way logjam at the top, which I can do absolutely nothing to resolve. This is the list, for better or for worse, and I really hope it gives the three-twenty-nine something to talk about over beers…which is sorta the point of The Pour Fool, in the first place.

WASHINGTON’S TOP TWENTY BREWERIES, as of July 31, 2013

TIE #1

ELYSIAN BREWING, Seattle

In any given year, Elysian could be Washington’s Brewery of The Year in my annual “Best of the NW”. I named Sound Brewery last year and they absolutely deserved it but then so did Elysian, with the “12 Beers of the Apocalypse”, “Splitshot”, AND the Pumpkin Beer Festival? And everything done beautifully. My admiration for this outfit is the equal of that for any brewery in the US and I have a feeling the best is yet to come…

OLD SCHOOLHOUSE BREWING, Winthrop

I’m tempted to call OSB the Northwest’s most under-appreciated brewery but that’s nowhere near true, anymore. Old Schoolhouse Brewing is the top-selling Washington brewery for my friends over at LetsPour.com, who sell to 38 states and get massive orders (especially from New England, curiously) for “Ruud Awakening”, “Hooligan”, “Back Country”, Barleywine, and the Imperial Stout and IPA. They’re probably, in fact, more overlooked in Seattle than anywhere else in the country…which figures. Across the board, Old Schoolhouse and brewer Blaze Ruud are absolutely killin’ it.

REUBEN’S BREWS, Seattle

What Adam Robbings and Mike Pfeiffer have done in just ONE year is astounding. Not even a year, in fact, as their first anniversary party is happening this coming weekend. Literally a fistful of beer competition medals, on taps everywhere, admired by other brewers, not only in Washington but out of state. (A local beer shipper just filled an order for all three of their bottles to Cigar City Brewing in Tampa.) This year will be their first GABF entry and I expect hardware for Reuben’s there, too. With only Gigantic Brewing of Portland as competition, easily the Northwest’s best new brewery.

SOUND BREWERY, Poulsbo

My 2012 Washington Brewery of The Year just keeps on casually turning out miracle after miracle. Not only are Mark Hood and crew avidly embracing styles of beer hardly seen at all in Washington (aside from an occasional one-off), they’re doing about as good a job of it as any brewery in the country. Their “Monk’s Indiscretion”, that twisted Belgian…whatever, remains the single most exotically-delicious ale I’ve ever tasted from Washington. If you have a palate that’s broader than just the usual AmberPalePorterESBStout, you owe yourself a trip to obscure little Bovela Lane in P’bo to see what that Sound is all about.

(splendid photo of Sound Brewery line-up courtesy Rob Hurvitz)

#2

CHUCKANUT BREWERY & KITCHEN, Bellingham

Better German beers than they make in a lot of German breweries. Wil Kemper is our state’s resident Genius Brewer.

TIE #3

MAC & JACKS BREWERY, Redmond

The world’s largest keg-only brewery outsells BudMillerCoors in Western Washington pubs and taverns. “African Amber” is not only a Northwest but American standard for Ambers and my own go-to beer.

WALKING MAN BREWING, Stevenson

Lost maybe half a step with the one-two departures of Jacob Leonard and Dan Munch but James Landers and Sam Scoggin are cranking up some amazing new things down in tiny Stevenson.

Their Reel Ales Series is as good any series done by anybody in the state and “Swordfish” is THE best CDA made in the US. I just wish they’d make more “Old Woody”…

#13

SNOQUALMIE FALLS BREWING, Snoqualmie

I have to resist favoritism in thinking about SnoFallsBrew, because I think “Steam Train” Porter is one of the two or three best Porters made in this nation. And I’d sit down and drink anything from SFB, anytime. This rating is low and I know it.

#14

PIKE BREWING, Seattle

Pains me to rate them this low but they resist doing anything edgy or very different. But make no mistake about it, Pike Brewing is as good a veteran brewery as anybody in the US. Really.

#15

SKOOKUM BREWING, Arlington

You doubting this pick? Drive to Arlington and try the beer. All doubts will be removed.

#16

SKAGIT RIVER BREWING, Mount Vernon

GREAT pub, delicious beers across the board, “Trumpeter” Stout, and occasional surprises. Just a rock-solid brewery.

#17

SILVER CITY BREWING, Bremerton

A work in progress but I predict SCB will become one of the Northwest’s premier breweries in five to ten years. But I hate it that they’re discontinuing their best beer…”Beautimus”.

#18

BIG AL BREWING, Seattle

Alejandro Brown is one of your favorite brewers? Yo: he’s better than you think…

#19

ELK HEAD BREWING, Buckley

Creative, imaginative, totally outside the box but does the standard stuff really well, too. “Blast Zone” is THE single best chile beer I’ve ever tasted.

#20

NW PEAKS BREWING, Seattle

Kevin Kline is very quietly making some shocking stuff in his garden shed in Ballard. (Palo Santo ale, anyone?) If you haven’t been…GO.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.